So I had two days where I could function and started feeling a bit guilty that I could be taking a surgery spot from someone that is in dire straits. The very next day I woke up to vertigo in the early morning hours and could barely make it across the room.
Nothing like waking up feeling that way and like I was going to pass out. Lasted nearly all day. Had to stay laying down. Still feeling wobbly and have been having the visual symptoms ever since. Blurry vision/ double vision. Gets very dim at times. Like as if the sun is covered by clouds. Went all the way to like a "snow" effect. I have had this several times and feel like it always happens during weather changes. I found out later that we were socked in with fog that morning.
The same thing happens a couple days before rain. I start getting off balance and my ears block up even more.
Yes, I think I've even started a discussion or two in the past about this. I've felt so sure that my symptoms were aggravated by weather that I'm actually moving! I live in Western Washington state and our weather is very rainy and cloudy and foggy and cool in the fall, winter and spring. I'm moving to sunny Southern CA. I really hope it'll help.
I'm sorry about your terrible day with vertigo- yikes. Hope the weather calms down and you have fewer rough days until your surgery.
If the Eagles is causing your intracranial pressure to be high (me!) then yes. When the barometric pressure drops, the pressure in our head rises. (My neuro ophthalmologist told me this and he is awesome!)
How are you with this sensation since having surgery? Or is it too soon to tell?
My elongated styloid is compressing both Internal Jugular veins. This is a known cause of Intracranial Hypertension. I finally got a shunt after a very long time, but the shunt does not control the pressure symptoms enough. I feel the rest must be this compression.
Look at the BIG (lol) pic on my new post about being nervous. You can see the compressed jugular.
Do you know if the jugulars are ok now? I read one case where it did not open up after styloid removed, a stent was placed and voila! all symptoms gone. I don't mention it to be negative, just something to keep in the back of your mind. (I sure am. I'd be happy to have the daggers out and a stent put in if need be,)
That's definitely worth keeping in mind- good point, Kitty. I am still not 100% even though it's been a long time since my last surgery (about 8 months). I'm looking for ideas.
Not sure what the jugular compression symptoms would be. Mainly, mine seem to be sore throat, ear pain, and a sense of swollen glands. Nothing like pre-surgery, but still an issue. Weather and activity levels affect it. I think if I sat in a recliner all day and ate popsicles I'd feel fabulous. ;)
On the jugular compression causing high pressure in head, I think some of us might be so used to those high intracranial pressure symptoms that we didn't realize they're a symptom of something.
For years, I have hated bright light (I actually bid for night work shifts because I enjoy working in lower lighting), and am really sensitive to loud noise (wear earplugs in cardio classes, movies, concerts, on planes, etc), and have always had 'sinus' problems. Coughing, sneezing always made pain in the back of my head. The first time I experienced vertigo was when doing the valsalva maneuver to clear my ears--- the valsalva maneuver (holding nose, but 'trying' to blow air into the nose while holding breath) significantly (but temporarily) increases intracranial pressure.
The one piece of literature I found on atmospheric pressure and intracranial pressure finds that anything less dense than sea level pressure significantly affects symptoms (in a bad way). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18975238
Less dense air is like being at higher altitude. I like to picture the head as a bag of potato chips. :) So if your head was a sealed bag of potato chips, it would poof up as you climb a mountain. Although it's not as noticeable, the bag also poofs up as low pressure weather systems move in (usually rainy/cloudy/stormy).
From that, you could reason that living in someplace like San Diego could be a good thing, since it has a relatively stable weather pattern and is at sea level.
Even there, weather patterns change, changing barometric pressure. You might still have some symptom worsening on lower pressure (usually cloudier/rainier) days. Windy days are days where pressure is changing rapidly. Are windy days also bad days for those that notice symptom/weather connections? I don't seem to notice.
It seems that living in a low altitude place that doesn't have frequent large weather pattern changes could help.
I agree, Tee. I dealt with what you describe with lights, the headaches, sinus, etc for years. It was not until I hit my head (again!) that things went very bad. Then the dizziness/imbalance ruined my quality of life.
Good article- Thanks. I know my neuro-opthomologist says even the overall "change" or differential in pressures can affect some patients. Like hills. The ups and downs can make his Intracranial Hypertension patients much more symptomatic. I live like 300 feet above sea level. I always assumed that was basically sea level, but when we drive west to the base of the small Maryland mountains, on the way home, so back to sea level, my symptoms flare up a little. Head/ear pressure mostly. It is only a change of a little over 100 feet in elevation, so I try to convince myself I am imagining it. Our weather patterns here are very finicky.
It would be nice to not be held hostage to barometric pressure changes! I love your comparisons and explanations. Thank you!
Kitty -- wow, thank you so much for posting this article/photos. Everything you said finally makes me see the big picture. I now see why Dr. Henderson asks for a CT/MRI of the cervical spine. ~~ Mine show lots of issues, but the reports are absolutely silent about C1. There's many comments about C2 to C7 ... lots of foraminal stenosis and some spondylolisthesis (whatever all that is.)
Wait ... it does indicate, on the CT, that the purpose is to question the rotational instability at the C1-C2 level. I don't know what any of this means but my rotational C1-C2 angle is 32 degrees when my head is turned to the right and 38 degrees when turned to the left. With the head in flexion the clivo-axial angle is 139 degrees.
THANK YOU for passing this info on. Will look for your other posting to see you images ... I'm sure you look fabulous, dahling!
-Hopeful
Kitty9309 said:
My elongated styloid is compressing both Internal Jugular veins. This is a known cause of Intracranial Hypertension. I finally got a shunt after a very long time, but the shunt does not control the pressure symptoms enough. I feel the rest must be this compression.
Look at the BIG (lol) pic on my new post about being nervous. You can see the compressed jugular.
Hopeful- Here is my pre-fusion 3D CT images of my C1/2 instability:
***Attachment shows up at bottom of this message.
Hopeful said:
Kitty -- wow, thank you so much for posting this article/photos. Everything you said finally makes me see the big picture. I now see why Dr. Henderson asks for a CT/MRI of the cervical spine. ~~ Mine show lots of issues, but the reports are absolutely silent about C1. There's many comments about C2 to C7 ... lots of foraminal stenosis and some spondylolisthesis (whatever all that is.)
Wait ... it does indicate, on the CT, that the purpose is to question the rotational instability at the C1-C2 level. I don't know what any of this means but my rotational C1-C2 angle is 32 degrees when my head is turned to the right and 38 degrees when turned to the left. With the head in flexion the clivo-axial angle is 139 degrees.
THANK YOU for passing this info on. Will look for your other posting to see you images ... I'm sure you look fabulous, dahling!
-Hopeful
Kitty9309 said:
My elongated styloid is compressing both Internal Jugular veins. This is a known cause of Intracranial Hypertension. I finally got a shunt after a very long time, but the shunt does not control the pressure symptoms enough. I feel the rest must be this compression.
Look at the BIG (lol) pic on my new post about being nervous. You can see the compressed jugular.
